


of valentine's day

by orphan_account



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 04:38:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20576594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In his sadness, he doesn't see how the leaves from the tree he's sitting under fall around him, and he doesn't notice the shake of the limbs. It isn't until a girl falls from the branch directly above his head does he realize he's not so alone. He screams in surprised as the pig-tailed girl lands on centimeters away from him. Mismatched colored band-aids litter her pale skin, and her hair is up in messy twintails, leaves still stuck in her dark locks. She shakes them free and wastes no time asking directly, "Why are you crying?"





	of valentine's day

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this for about two or three weeks. I've tried to rewrite it a few times, but I've decided to accept it as it is. I hope you enjoy regardless.
> 
> Oh, and this is a complete AU! No ghouls here!

Kaneki Ken was a very smart boy, and his teachers never missed a chance to tell his mother precisely that. 

_Your son is so well behaved_ the art teacher would tell his mama. _His reading and comprehensions skills are exceptionally high, Mrs. Kaneki! _His literature teacher would praise. _Ken here is an exemplary student all around. You must be so proud of him _his homeroom teacher never failed to gush. 

But, the thing is, Ken didn't think his mama was all that proud. She never congratulated him on a grade well-earned or took him out for ice cream when he got a gold star. She didn't even hug and kiss when she dropped him off at school like Ken had observed the other parents doing with their children. 

He felt he would have to work harder to earn his mama's approval. Harder than the average kid because, well... He was different. 

Ken _knew_ he was different – he _had_ to be. It was clear he wasn't like the other kids in his class because he always got picked last for games if he was chosen at all. He wasn't like the other kids, surrounded by friends at the lunch table. If Hide was out sick, he sat alone. A lot of the time, his classmates looked right through him as if he wasn't there at all. 

Ken wasn't sure why that was, but he knew that for whatever reason he was different. That was why papa had died when he was a baby. That why mama yelled at him instead of hugged him, and that was why the other kids, except for Hide, kept him outside of their circles. 

These were the things he knew and the things he did his best to accept with a strained smile. 

But sometimes that was easier said than done, and Valentines' Day was one of those days. Ken _hated_ Valentines' Day.

Hide wasn't in school on this year's Valentine's Day since he had gone on vacation with his family only a few days prior. Some of the girls in Ken's class were disappointed. Hide always did get a lot of Valentine's cards from everyone, the girls especially. It didn't matter that they were only seven and eight, the girls found Hide cute – much to the spiky-haired boy's delight. 

With no best friend to latch onto, Ken parked himself under his favorite tree at recess while the other children ran to and fro delivering cards to one another. Had Hide been present, Ken would have at least gotten a card from him instead of a big fat nothing that currently sat in his assigned card bag. 

He knew he shouldn't be disappointed, but he was. He has to fight back frustrated tears. The only thing that gives him the strength not to sob is the ever-present voice in his head reminding him how mama _hated_ it when he cried. She said it gave her a headache, and that he should grow up already. 

Stiffening his upper lip, Ken told himself he didn't care, that it was okay and that maybe next year he would be better and people would notice him. 

In his sadness, he doesn't see how the leaves from the tree he's sitting under fall around him, and he doesn't notice the shake of the limbs. It isn't until a girl falls from the branch directly above his head does he realize he's not so alone. He screams in surprised as the pig-tailed girl lands on centimeters away from him. Mismatched colored band-aids litter her pale skin, and her hair is up in messy twintails, leaves still stuck in her dark locks. She shakes them free and wastes no time asking directly, "Why are you crying?" 

"I-I am not! I was not!" Ken snaps back defensively and only bristles more when the girl smirks knowingly at him. The girl looked younger than him – maybe in kindergarten, he wasn't sure. He wasn't about to have a little kid make fun of him. 

At least he thinks not. "I-I wasn't crying. I was thinking!"

"Nuh-uh! Your lip was shaking like this," the smaller child mimics him, quivering her lip only more exaggerated. "And your eyes were getting _really_ big and watery!"

"They were not!"

"They were too!" She makes a silly face at him, eyes-crossed and tongue out. 

He really didn't want to argue with a baby, but he couldn't stop either, not until she left him alone. "How would you know anyway, you were up there! You couldn't even see me." Ken wished the little brat would just go away.

"I was hanging upside down," she told him as she began to twirl. This girl was incredibly hyperactive, Ken thought as she spun herself close to sickness and fell on her bottom next to him, a dizzy smile on her lips.

Okay, Ken thought. Maybe she's just crazy. Still, he can't help but ask, "You were hanging upside down?" 

She nods enthusiastically giving him a toothy grin. "Like an owl!"

"Owls don't hang upside down – bats do." 

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and leaned back against the tree. She regarded him silently for a bit and then asked again, "Why were you crying?"

Ken sighed. So crazy and stubborn then. 

He knew denying he was on the verge of tears clearly wouldn't work, but there was also no way he was going to admit the real reason either. He wondered if they could just argue in circles until one of their groups had to return to class. 

That didn't happen, however. Band-aid covered hands reached across Ken and snagged his card bag. 

Ken's face was red, not from embarrassment but shame as the younger child peeked inside to see nothing. He looked away, not wanting to see a taunting smile as she realized how _different_ he was. He prepared himself for teasing, but when none came, he turned back to look at her. 

"You don't have any cards." Though she was stating the obvious, it didn't seem like she was taunting him.

"Yeah." Ken nodded and turned his attention to the ground as he plucked a few blades of grass. He wondered how long before all the underclassmen body would know how much of a loser Kaneki Ken was. 

"Why not?" 

Was there any need to answer? Ken didn't think so. His eyes stayed fixated on the grass he was uprooting wanting nothing more than to be left alone and forgotten like always.

His silence didn't seem to jar the girl as she continued to talk." That's okay. I only got two." She pulls out her own bag from her back pocket. It's crumbled, and the cards look a mess from the rough treatment, but she gazes at them fondly all the same. "This came from my friend Yoriko. She's in a different class than me, but she gave it to me this morning before school started," she explained, showing him the bunny adorned card proudly. "And this is from my brother." On the other card, the kanji on it was sloppy and the name Ayato was spelled with shaky penmanship. A little brother, no doubt. 

She looked at them both appraisingly, as if she had the keys to the world. "It's not a bunch of cards like some of the other kids get, but they mean a lot because it means they thought about me." 

Ken wondered for a moment if this girl was trying to make him feel worse. No one had thought about him. 

He isn't able to ask her though because, without permission, she's leaning over him again, this time digging into his green backpack he always takes to recess. "Hey!" He yells indignantly. 

"Shut up," she mutters, rummaging through his many books looking for something in particular. It takes her a while, but she finds what she's looking for – a notebook and a mechanical pencil. 

She doesn't spare him a glance as she opens the book and tears out a page, causing him to yell again. What was up with this kid? He would have yanked the book away from her if he didn't think she could probably beat him up. She seemed like that kind of girl – rude and scary despite being so small. 

Ken bites his tongue, just like he always did – be it at school when everyone overlooked him, or worse teased him, or at home when mama told him how much she hated him. He bit his tongue because that's what he always did. 

But he finds himself unable to stop a small gasp from escaping his throat when he realizes what the girl is doing.

With her tongue poking out in concentration, she scribbled a messy heart and affixed bunnies around it. She moved the pen to the center of the heart then paused, casting a glance over to Ken. "What's your name?" 

"K-Kaneki. Kaneki Ken."

"What characters?" She asks, before shaking her head and mumbling _never mind_. She decided to wing it. Again her tongue poked out as she wrote _Happy Valentine's day, Kaneki Ken. Stop Crying. Love Kirishima Touka._

Giving her impromptu card the once over then a nod of approval, she handed it over to Ken. "Now, you got a card." 

He doesn't have the heart to tell her she only got one character right. 

"Kirishima Touka," Ken repeats out loud. He wonders if maybe he's made a new friend. The bright gaped smile she gives him makes him think that he has. His chest feels light.

"Yeah! Now no one can make fun of you and say you don't have any and if they do I can punch them in the face!" 

_How scary._

"Uh – thanks, uh...T-Touka-chan?" He tests out the informal name, hoping not to offend her and ruin this blooming friendship before it has even truly begun. He is relieved to see her smile get bigger somehow.

A teacher calls her students from the school's side door and Touka-chan's whines. "I don't want to learn!" And this time Kaneki doesn't bit his tongue. He laughs. 

"Don't laugh at me!" Touka raises her fist like she's about to punch him, only to quickly bend down and grab a handful of leaves and fling them at him. The dramatics causes him to laugh even more.

"Why don't you want to learn?" 

"Because it's boring!" She makes a disgusted face and pulls at her twintails in frustration. She looks very silly.

"It doesn't have to be."

"But it is!" She insists stubbornly.

It seems like they are about to get into another argument – though more playful this time, just as Touka's teacher all but screeches **KIRISHIMA**! Touka doesn't flinch. Obviously, she's used to being screamed at in that manner by her teacher. 

"I have to go." She grumbles and is off far faster than someone with such short legs should be capable of doing. 

Ken watches as the little class is ushered inside. Touka eases herself to the forefront as if she had been waiting in line all along. He sees her teacher let out a long-suffering sigh.

Only after the class has disappeared inside the school building does Ken look down at his card. 

*

When Hide comes back two days later, Ken can hardly wait to tell him about his new friend or the fact that she gave him a card. Ken completely misses the way Hide snickers until he says, "I leave for a couple of days, and you go get yourself a girlfriend!" Red-faced Ken tries to explain that's not true and that it's not right for Hide to say that. Touka's a little kid, and he explains – a whopping year and a half younger than them! 

"And anyway," Ken says, still on the defensive, "You get cards from a ton of girls every year!"

"I'm cool, I know!" Hide congratulates himself. Ken rolls his eyes. 

Hide claps his buddy on the back, his face grows serious as he tells him, "All I'm saying is that getting a dozen cards from a dozen different girls is a lot different than getting _one_ card from _one_ girl. That's serious, Kaneki. That's like holding hands or something!" Ken's face turns tomato red, and of course, Hide _has_ to keep going. "Hey! Maybe you two will get married. I want to be invit –" 

"Shut up!" Ken tackles Hide to the ground right outside of the school's gates. It's a half-hearted takedown, both boys laughing as they struggle against each other. Their laughter must not have been evident enough, however, because mere moments after their roughhousing had begun did little hands wrap themselves around Hide's neck, pulling him off of Ken. 

Though shocked at first Ken thinks fast and acts faster. Quickly grabs Touka by the shoulders, holding her back as she fails and kicks her feet trying her best to reach Hide. 

The girl with the rabbit hair clips glares Hide. "Don't bully my friend!" She seethes red with anger. She tries to claw her way out of Ken's grasp. It seemed that hurting Ken to hurt his attacker made perfect sense to her. "Let me go! Let me go! I'm gonna punch him!" 

Ah, she did say she would punch anyone who picked on him, hadn't she?

It takes several minutes to calm the raging six-year-old down. Ken finds himself repeating more than a few times to her that _no – Hide wasn't hurting him_ and that in fact, Hide's his _friend_. 

When it finally sinks in, she looks almost embarrassed and mumbles an apology to Hide. Hide assures her it's not a problem.i

Once the misunderstanding is set aside, and Touka is calm, she holds Ken's hand, causing the older boy blush and his friend's eyes to bulge. 

Touka doesn't see the significance in the gesture and asks, "Does he want to come with us to play at the park?" She jumps up and down, antsy to leave the school grounds now that the day is over. 

Ken looks at Hide. Silently asking him if he wanted to come and silently begging him for help. A girl is touching me! his eyes seem to scream. Hide only grins and shakes his head. "Nah, I need to go home and catch up on some games. I still haven't beaten that boss. You two have fun, though!"

Touka-chan is off at breakneck speed, her fingers laced with Ken's as she drags him along helplessly.

As they leave Hide behind, he calls out to the pair – or instead to Ken, "Don't forget, _that's_ serious, man!"

Ken looks down at her hand enclosed around his.

*

Kaneki Ken always had known he was different. He didn't have a lot of friends, and his mother sometimes said she hated him. Sometimes had become all the time as he grew older. 

He used to hope that one day, he would be a better person and earn the favor of his peers and the adoration of his mother. These days he thinks both are pipe dreams. Ken almost accepted he's different and maybe not worthy of a lot of things. He wants to believe he's found peace in admitting this to himself, but he hasn't. Not fully, anyway. 

With the first semester of his first year in University steadily drawing to a close, he meets with Touka-chan in the park and tells her this. She looks at him. Not with hate like his mother or through him like his classmates. She looks at him, though her eyes are disapproving. 

She gnaws at her bottom lip, and the innocuous action transfixed Ken. She takes her time mulling over her words before she insults him because that's one aspect of their friendship that has never changed.

She calls him an idiot and a nerd and a huge ass crybaby. Those words shouldn't bring comfort to him, but they do because they are from Touka and familiar. Like a balm over his nerves, a constant in his life since he was a boy.

But was is new is when Touka follows them by telling him sternly that he's enough.

"_You might be the most frustrating human ever to live, but you're enough and anyone who doesn't see that is a shithead."_

_And that, he had learned over the years, was very much Touka's nature too. She could be thorny and obnoxiously opinionated but beneath that bravado was just a girl – a woman, who cared deeply and loved with every ounce of her being. He can't pinpoint in his memory when it was that he realized Touka wasn't just cute but beautiful – inside and out – but at moments like this, it's always so painfully clear. _

After that, she doesn't point out the welling of tears in his eyes. Instead, she sprawls out on the grass on her back and makes up her own constellations names to annoy him. He used to hate it when she did that.

But on that night Ken finds himself not minding her calling Cassiopeia _Cassi-hoe-pia_ or Pisces _Tuna_. In truth, he just enjoyed listening to her voice. 

When he was quiet for too long, Touka asks with concern what's wrong. 

Ken shakes his head. Then, softly, cautiously, he asks, "Do you have anything planned for Valentine's Day this year, Touka-chan?"

When she smiles at him, he lets out a breath of air he didn't realize he was holding. 

Maybe he was enough and perhaps Valentine's Day wasn’t so bad.


End file.
